


Playing With Fire

by Chat_3_Noir



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Identity Reveal, Reveal Fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-18
Updated: 2016-01-23
Packaged: 2018-05-14 21:29:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5759494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chat_3_Noir/pseuds/Chat_3_Noir
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adrien accidentally reveals himself as Chat Noir during a fight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Adrien?

_Dear Diary,_

_Today another akuma struck, and this one was difficult to catch. Both I and Chat Noir were injured, but in the end we got the job done. But, after we caught the akuma, Chat persisted in insisting I reveal myself to him. I refused, and he asked me a question I could not answer: why?_  
_I had no idea what to say, so I left; my miraculous was running out anyway. But despite myself, I can't help pondering the question over and over. Why do I object to revealing my secret identity? Perhaps the answer could be because once we're unmasked, it may affect our partnership. I don't want to lose my partner, and I hope Chat doesn't either. Maybe if we knew each other's identity, we would lose our trust in one another. Maybe—_

"Marinette, don't you have school work to do?"  
I sighed and shut my diary. "Yes, Tikki, but I have to get my thoughts out of my mind or I can't possibly focus. It's been a week and I still can't get him or his question out of my mind!"  
Regardless of my excuses, I still had to get my work done. I placed my diary back in its box and pulled out my history textbook.

-

      Even after hours of studying I had only gotten a quarter of my work done, and as it got later and later, I got more and more restless. Finally, I decided to take a break and walk to the park, just to clear my head. I took my time getting there, prolonging my short reprieve from work. On my third lap around the park, just when I was thinking I should be getting back to my work, a blast threw me off my feet and across the park where I fell hard, hitting my head on a bench. I sat on the ground for a moment, trying to bring my vision back into focus, then I stood to see a woman dressed in white with flaming hands, blasting craters into the park and the city surrounding it. I cursed, knowing it was another akuma.  
      Quickly I ran to a subway station and transformed, hoping to stop the akuma before it caused irreparable damage. When I came back out as ladybug, I saw Chat Noir had already arrived. I smiled and ran to meet him as he flipped off the street lamp and onto the ground next to me.  
"Nice of you to show up, my lady. Obviously, I was handling it fine on my own."  
"What, for the two seconds before I arrived? It's lucky I arrived now, because you wouldn't have lasted another second. Now let's get that akuma!"  
      Chat grinned at me, then ran to distract the lady so I could figure out where the akuma was. I stopped for a minute and watched her closely, then I saw it: each time she fired a fireball, new fire swelled immediately from her gloves. Seeing this, I ran to meet Chat again and yelled to him as we dodged, "The akuma's in her gloves!"  
      Chat nodded and jumped up on a street light, swiping for the gloves. The woman, seeing us targeting the gloves, grew scared and flew back, going down the subway entrance I had transformed in. We followed, and as soon as we entered, bars slammed down on either side of us, blocking our passage up and down.  
      Chat sighed, wondering "Why do these people always try to trap us? Don't they know about my cataclysm?" He called his special power from his miraculous and the bars eroded before our eyes. We jumped out and ran on to find the fire woman.  
      We searched for a while, but no luck. Then, Chat spotted her at the top of the escalator in the abandoned subway station, staring at us. Seeing us notice her, she began lobbing fireballs at us, causing us to dive and dodge and leaving no room in between to grab the akuma. It started getting harder and harder to dodge, and eventually she was barely missing me. Each time she threw another at me, I could feel the heat on my back and feel the explosion shake the ground. I looked over at Chat, and he looked back at me. With wide, desperate eyes, he held up his ring, showing only the middle of the paw left. He was due to change back at any moment.  
      In an instant, I knew what he wanted to do. "Chat!" I screamed. "You can't leave now, she'll toast me if you do! I need you!"  
      Still dodging, Chat wailed back, "What use am I without my miraculous? I need to go!"  
      He took off running, leaving me to deal with Fire Woman. Her next blast hit right behind me, now that she could focus all her attention on me. It didn't hit me directly, but it was still hot enough to melt through my suit and burn my back, causing me to scream in pain. "Chat! Please!"  
      He stopped and turned to look at me. Suddenly, he ran back and, as Fire Woman descended to take my miraculous, jumped straight on her head and clawed for the gloves. She angrily threw him off, and at that moment, Chat Noir changed to... Adrien?  
      He stopped to look at me and I stared back, dumbfounded. Chat Noir wad Adrien? Adrien, the boy I had been crushing on for the whole year? Adrien couldn't be Chat Noir, who flirted so shamelessly and fought so valiantly alongside me!  
      As we stood and gazed at each other, Fire Woman took the opportunity to lob a fireball straight at Adrien, blasting him back and knocking him flat on the ground where he lay, his clothes and skin steaming and scorched.

"Adrien!" I screamed, my eyes tearing up. "No!"


	2. Marinette?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette battles herself on whether or not to reveal herself as Ladybug to Chat Noir.

      I turned and glared at Fire Woman, enraged that she had hurt my friend. I threw my yo-yo up in the air and called my luck charm. My yo-yo came down, and with it, a fire extinguisher. This time, I wasted no time with thought and ran towards the wall, my miraculous helping me defy gravity to run up the wall behind Fire Woman, spraying her with a blast from my ladybug-patterned fire extinguisher all the way.

      Quickly, I got into a position where I could rope her with my yo-yo and bring her down to the floor where I could easily grab the gloves and rip them in half, releasing the akuma. In an instant I purified the akuma, restored the city to its normal state, and was at Adrien’s side. But when I got there, he was gone. Apparently in fixing the akuma’s damage on the city, I had also repaired his wounds, and he ran away from the scene, for whatever reason. I sighed and took off at a run, aware of the little time I had left until I reverted back to normal Marinette.

-

      The next day at school, Adrien was there, sitting in front of me and acting as normal as he ever had before. For a while I wondered why, until I realized that he still had no idea I was Ladybug. So, realizing that, I gave myself another question to stress over: should I reveal myself as Ladybug, now that Adrien had revealed himself as Chat Noir?

      I got home and went straight up to my room, anxious to get my thoughts out of my head. Usually, I would talk to Alya, but since this wasn’t something I could go to her for advice on, I chose to talk to Tikki about it.

      “I...I just don’t know what to do. I think he likes me as Ladybug, but as Marinette he barely knows I exist! If I do reveal myself to him, what’s going to happen to our relationship as Marinette and Adrien? More importantly, what’s going to happen to our relationship as Ladybug and Chat Noir?”

      Tikki listened intently as I spoke, then answered, “Marinette, you need to stop worrying about this so much. You have no idea what could happen! It could make your relationship a little rocky both in and out of your life as Ladybug, but maybe it’s best to be honest with each other. After all, you know who he is. Why not tell him?”

      I sighed, making up my mind. “I guess it couldn’t really hurt to tell him. Besides, I kind of owe him for forcing him to reveal himself during that last fight.”

      While I was doing my homework, I kept thinking over the problem, changing my mind about five thousand times. But, when I transformed and got ready to go out on my nightly patrol, my resolve strengthened, and I was determined to tell him before the night was over.

-

      I flew across Paris on my yo-yo, a million butterflies batting around inside my stomach. When I finally made it to the top platform of the Eiffel Tower, Chat was nowhere to be found. Frustrated, I began a conversation with myself, pacing up and down the platform as I decided and re-decided again and again whether I was going to tell Chat.

_Don’t tell him, you’ll ruin your relationship for sure!_

_I don’t think so, Marinette! He’s going to be fine with who you are, and maybe he’ll even talk to you more in your regular life, which could lead to a lot more than just friends!_

_But...what if he doesn’t like the real you?! I mean, the Marinette you? What if he only likes the Ladybug side of you, and once he finds out you’re clumsy, awkward Marinette, he won’t like you at all anymore! Just do what you’ve been doing, and everything will turn out fine!_

_Marinette! Adrien would never hate me for who I am! He’s...he’s a really nice guy. At least, nicer than you!_

_How dare you_ _—!_

      I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned, my eyes widening when I realized who it was.

      “Oh, uh, hi, Chat! Fancy seeing you here! Oh, I mean, I knew you’d be here, obviously, because, haha, who else would it be? I mean, we’re at the top of the Eiffel Tower for God’s sake—”

      “My Lady. What has you so flustered? Am I that intoxicating?” Chat grinned his annoying, impish grin, but now I knew it was Adrien, I swear I nearly fainted.

      “Uh, no, it’s just that, well, I wasn’t expecting you to be, uh, you. Y’know?” _Of all people, why’d you have to be Adrien?_

      “Wait, this is about my identity?” Chat lost all hints of his previous flirtatious attitude, then leaned closer. “Do you _know_ me in real life? Outside of the costume?”

      I got nervous and my face flooded red. “Well, yeah, actually. It’s—it’s me.” I started to say the words, but stopped dead when I realized what I was about to do. I was about to reveal myself to Adrien. Me, bumbling, gawky Marinette. He’d never even have an interest in me after this, Ladybug or no.

      A second after these thoughts burst into my head, I banished them. _No,_ I thought. _I owe it to him for what he did for me yesterday. I can’t back out now._

      With that thought in mind, I transformed back into my regular self, Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

      “It’s me.” I said, quaking inside. “Marinette.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ughh, sorry if this is oc. I'm still trying to get a feel for their characters, since I'm pretty new to this fandom. Anyway, I'll probably have another chapter in this, and that'll probably be it. Maybe.


	3. Things Go Wrong At The Park

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically the title.

_Adrien’s POV_

      I stood dumbfounded as I saw Ladybug take off her mask and reveal herself as Marinette, my shy but kind classmate, and, apparently, Ladybug, the love of my life. A couple minutes after revealing herself, she transformed back into Ladybug, careful to not let the public know her true identity.

      We stood and gazed at each other for a long time, neither of us knowing what to say. I finally knew My Lady's identity, but what would this do to our partnership, our friendship? I couldn't let the reveal ruin what we had. I had to do something. 

      “Well, My Lady? Should we proceed with our patrol?” I kneeled down and took her hand to kiss it, hoping things hadn’t changed between her and I.

      She smiled and wrenched her hand out of my grasp, saying, “Sorry, Chat, but you being Adrien doesn’t change how I respond to your advances. How about you ask me out in real life, like a proper gentleman?”

      I grinned and walked to the edge with her, then we both jumped down gracefully and slid from support beam to support beam to the park beneath the tower. She pulled out her yo-yo and swung gracefully up to the top of a building, poised expectantly, waiting for me. I clambered up to the top in a cat-like manner and stood next to her, smiling at her. I was so happy to finally know who My Lady was.

      She smiled bashfully at me, and said, “Sorry I haven’t told you who I was until now. I was just...scared. Scared that me as a civilian wasn’t going to live up to Ladybug and all her grace and beauty.”

      I touched the pads of my fingers under her chin and tilted her head to look at me, and I found myself saying, “My Lady, I could never be disappointed in you.”

      She turned her face away, hiding her blush, and said, “Let’s get along with this patrol already. I still have homework to do!”

      I laughed, and we sprang away, rooftop to rooftop, letting Paris and its citizens sleep safely in their beds, knowing Ladybug and Chat Noir were looking after them.

-

      The next morning, I was desperately trying to come up with a smooth, romantic way to ask Marinette out, but I was so nervous I hardly had an appetite at breakfast.

      “Plagg, what if she doesn’t actually like me...like _that?_ You know?”

      “No, I don’t _know._ Besides, didn’t you hear what she said last night? _‘Chat, I’ve been waiting for you to take me on a date so we can get married and live happily ever after!!”_

      “Plagg! Argh, you’re making me more nervous! Just—just eat your cheese and be quiet!”

      “Don’t mind if I do.” Plagg said, settling down inside my bag.

      I finished piling my books and homework into my bag, took a deep breath, and walked out the door. Today, I was going to ask out Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

-

_Marinette’s POV_

      “Oh my god, Tikki, do you think he took what I said last night seriously? Do you think he’s _actually going to ask me out?!_ I can already picture it: we’ll go on an _amazingly_ romantic date to the Louvre, or something, and he’ll be so enamoured he’ll propose on the spot! And I’ll have to accept, of course, but—ohmygosh— _What’ll Mom and Dad say?!”_

      “Marinette, calm down! You’re only fifteen, so neither of you should be getting married. Besides, it’s Chat Noir too, not just Adrien. There’s two sides to him, remember? Just think of that when you get nervous around Adrien.” said Tikki.

      I grinned bashfully, scratching the back of my head embarrassedly. “Thanks, Tikki, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

      With Tikki’s encouraging words in my head, I headed off to school, feeling more confident about Adrien than I ever had before.

-

       As soon as I got to school and saw Adrien, all of my nervousness came back to me, hitting me in the stomach like a sledge hammer. I spotted Alya by the wall lining the stairs up to the school and ran to her like mad, squealing, “Alya, _hide me!”_

      I bumped into her and we both went tumbling down, and Alya exclaimed “What’s up, girl? Is Adrien freaking you out or something?”

      “Yes…” I groaned, pulling myself up via the wall. Just then, I heard someone clear their throat behind me. I froze, then turned to see Adrien standing behind me, looking nervous and— _oh god Adrien looked so cute when he was nervous._

      I straightened quickly and grinned nervously, trying to remember how to breathe. _Stop it,_ I told myself. _Just remember, he’s Cat Noir too. Your flirty, crazy, adorable partner._ I relaxed slightly and said, “Oh, hi Adrien! Do you need something?”

      Adrien’s cheeks turned pink and he answered, “Well, yeah, actually. I was wondering...would you go on a date with me? For a walk in the park? I mean, I know it sounds cheesy, but—”

      “Yes! Yes, I’d love to go!” I squealed, cutting him off. The bell rang and as students started to file into class and Adrien got swept away with the tide, he called to me, “I’ll be there at seven to pick you up!”

      I stood stock still for a couple seconds, not believing what just happened. Did _Adrien Agreste_ just _ask me out?!_

      Alya and I both looked at each other and screamed, jumping up and down excitedly. “Girl, you have _got_ to let me help you get ready! You _have_ to  look _perfect_ for this date!”

      I stood there grinning like an idiot, until Alya grabbed me and dragged me to class while I was still lost in my daydreams.

-

      When Alya came over later that day to help me get ready, I was freaking out. I had no suitable clothes for this date, and once Adrien saw how horrible I looked tonight, he would never even want to _speak_ to me again.

      “You’re going to look fine. I mean, you’re Marinette! Who’s cuter than you?” Alya said, trying to pump me up.

      I smiled, trying to remind myself that this wasn’t just Adrien. This was also Chat, who I wouldn’t care what I looked like in front of him, we were that close.

      Alya was rummaging through my closet and came up with a sky blue dress hemmed at the knees and a white shawl, along with a silver necklace with a small ladybug charm on it and black flats. “Here, put this on. It’s dressy, but not _too_ dressy, if you know what I mean.”

      I grabbed the clothes and went to the bathroom to change, surprised at how okay I looked. Perhaps this date wouldn’t be a train wreck after all.

-

_Adrien’s POV_

      “Ugh, this is going to be a nightmare. There’s no way I can do this! I’m finally going on a date with the girl of my dreams, and I _know_ somehow it’ll go wrong!”

      “Just chillax, man. You got this. I _know_ Marinette likes you, she’s been drooling over you for, like, a year now. Anything you do will seem cute to her. Trust me, I know.”

      “Thanks, Nino. I’m just terrified ‘cause I’ve been dreaming about this for forever, and I want it to go perfect.”

      “It will, dude, I can feel it. You two are meant for each other.”

-

      I finally showed up to Marinette’s dressed in a dark blue button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up and black jeans. Nino recommended that I dress up, but not _too_ much. After all, it’s just the park; nothing super special. However, I had a surprise in mind.

      I knocked hesitantly at the bakery door and was confronted by a huge man whom I presumed to be Marinette’s father.

      “Er, hello, Mr. Dupain. I’m here for you daughter, if that’s ok with you.”

      Marinette’s father greeted me and stepped aside, inviting me in. I sat awkwardly on a couch in their living room when Marinette came down the stairs, dressed in a beautiful sky blue dress to match her eyes. She walked over and stood by the couch, and I got up so we could go. Marinette’s parents stood by the stairway, smiling kindly. “Don’t be out too late!” Mrs. Cheng warned as the door swung shut behind us.

-

      We walked down the sidewalk together awkwardly, looking anywhere but the other with about a foot of distance between us. We got to the gates of the park and I decided to break the tension. I gave a slight bow and held my arm out for Marinette to grab, saying, “Let me stroll with you through the park, My Lady.” Marinette laughed and looped her arm through mine, closing the distance between us. “Lead the way, Kitty.”

      We strolled down the walk, talking aimlessly about unimportant things such as school, my modeling, and, of course, saving Paris every now and then.

      “How did you first test out your powers?” Marinette asked me, smiling.

      “Well, I snuck out of my house for only about half an hour at a time, maybe once every two weeks.” I replied. “I was terrified my dad would find out I was gone, even for an hour. I would just leave my room out the window and go jump from rooftop to rooftop, circling back to make sure I was back without anyone missing me.”

      Marinette laughed. “I got badly tangled up in my yo-yo and hung from a streetlight late at night for about an hour until some random person came and helped me down. It was probably the most embarrassing moment of my life.”

      The conversation lulled for a moment, and then I stopped walking and turned so we were staring right into each other’s eyes. “You’re so beautiful when you smile, My Lady.” I said quietly, and she blushed. I took both of her hands in mine and leaned down to touch my forehead to hers, closing my eyes to kiss her—

      And we were split apart by huge, gusting winds that suddenly blew into the park. We landed about thirty yards apart, and immediately I went for her, wanting to be together for this, now that I knew she was Ladybug. But, before I could reach her, A blue bolt of what looked like lightning came from the sky and hit her square in the chest, encasing her in ice before she even had a chance to transform.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo this is probably going to be a lot longer than expected. I was going to make this a oneshot, but that's not gonna happen now.


End file.
